Layla
by gah-linda
Summary: This is the end! Chapter 7 added December 18... Epilogue with important Author's Note added the 19th.
1. Taking Care of Pam

**A/N:** Season 1 prom night! All of the dialogue is straight out of the episode.

I've always loved the idea of Hyde having unrequited love towards Jackie throughout her time with Kelso; I think it helps explain why he was such an ass about J/K once they got together. But when I write, their feelings are usually pretty mutual. So, here's something a little different. I'm pretty sure it's the beginning of a bittersweet series, but only if enough people are interested. Obviously, it will take a backseat to Hyde Bags Jackie and Do You Think It's Alright.

* * *

**Taking Care of Pam**

Hyde smiled at himself as he tightened his grip on Jackie's waist, reveling in the feeling of her body beneath the purple silk of her dress and the soft perfume she radiated. Sure, he had never quite imagined himself coming to a prom, especially not with Jackie Burkhardt, but he was enjoying the night more than he expected to. Looking down at her pouty lips and large, mismatched eyes, he wondered to himself how he had never noticed how freakin' gorgeous she was. It was her age, he guessed. His taste in women usually led him towards more mature…well traveled specimens. She was only a sophomore, almost two years younger, and the innocence of her face suggested that she'd seen almost nothing of the world.

His attraction to her scared him shitless, especially because he could tell she would only get hotter with time. What scared him even more, though, was the jealously he felt every time she glanced over at Kelso and Pam Macy.

"It's just that I always pictured Michael and I together at prom," she continued speaking about something he hadn't been listening to. "That's how it was supposed to be, you know?" Her eyes traveled longingly across the room to where the boy she loved was dancing with Pam.

"Yeah, I know," he answered, swallowing his jealously in an effort to make her feel better. "Well, hey, Pam's butt looks really big in that dress."

"No it doesn't," she shook her head, but she also smiled up at him in a way that almost made his heart stop.

"Yeah, no it doesn't," he replied, not sure what he was agreeing to because his hand had just slid over her butt.

"But thank you. Do you mind if we sit down?" She smiled at him, and it nearly crushed him because it was the kind of warm open smile she would give to a friend…not a lover.

"Yeah, okay…I'll go grab some punch." Hyde walked towards the table, paying no attention to the fact that Kelso was following behind him. _Friend_ he told himself repeatedly. _Jackie is my friend._ God, why was that such a tough pill to swallow? He'd finally gotten over Donna, and now all the sudden he felt a magnetic pull towards a girl that had belonged to Michael Kelso since they were playing doctor in Foreman's basement a decade ago.

"Hyde!" Kelso's voice startled him out of his thoughts. "You brought Jackie to Prom? You're supposed to be my friend and you dogged me!" Kelso's words pissed him off. He wanted to punch the bastard and tell him he didn't deserve Jackie if he was pulling the kind of shit he had. He wanted to send him back to Pam Macy. He wanted to pull Jackie out of the dance and to a motel room. God, it pissed him off that he wanted her so badly. So instead of fighting, he just sighed with resignation.

"Hey, she cried, man," was his only answer as he looked over at her, even more beautiful in her sadness.

"Well, is she having a good time? Because she looks real pretty." Hyde nodded his head in agreement as they both stared at her. No matter how much he wanted her, he knew it would never happen. He was certainly not the kind of guy she wanted or needed. She was better off with the giant moron blubbering next to him. It was then that Hyde knew what he had to do.

"Alright, you big baby. She wants to be with you and you want to be with her, so go be with each other." He shook his head sadly. "Cause the whole thing sickens me!"

"Well, what am I going to do with Pam?" Kelso asked, never taking his eyes off of Jackie.

"Don't worry about it…I'll take care of Pam." Kelso hugged him briefly before making his way towards Jackie, taking his time and thinking over what he would say. Taking his eyes off of them, Hyde strode over to Pam. What was one more fake, whorey blonde?

"So, Pam… Have you ever seen the backseat of a Lincoln Continental?" He knew when he asked the question that the answer would be yes. Girls didn't gain reputations as sluts without seeing a lot of back seats. _When did sluttiness become a negative attribute?_ he wondered to himself.

"Yeah, lots of times," came her predictable answer.

"Would you like to see another one?" His eyes raked over her frame. She was pretty, he supposed. But it was the kind of pretty that got her taken to the backseat of a car, whereas Jackie was the kind of pretty that would get her a mansion with a white picket fence. Well, good. He certainly wasn't qualified to give any girl much more than a night in the backseat of a car, so he would just stick to whorey bottled blondes. After all, Steven Hyde loved sluts.

"Sure," she smiled at him, trailing her eyes over his body. Smiling, he pulled her up and slung his arm lazily over her shoulder.

"Great," he answered, sincerely hoping that a night with Pam would ease the strange feelings he was having about Jackie.

On their way to the door, Pam and Hyde passed Jackie, still sitting by herself as Kelso took his time getting to her. Hyde's eyes met Jackie's as he walked with Pam, and the gratefulness he saw there nearly killed him. Setting his face towards indifference, Hyde told himself that this had nothing to do with Jackie. In fact, he was trading up. What man wouldn't prefer a blonde to a brunette?

As he fumbled with the keys to Jackie's Lincoln, he felt Pam's hands reach around him to rub up and down his chest, sending shivers down his spine. When he finally got the door open, the scent of Jackie's perfume wafted out of the car, and Hyde closed his eyes as the smell washed over him. Damn, it was intoxicating. For a moment, he imagined that the lips attached to his neck belonged to Jackie, that it was her silky brown hair tickling his chin. That illusion was shattered when Pam giggled, though, a truly annoying sound…well, at least she had that in common with Jackie.

Climbing into the car, Hyde pulled Pam into his lap and slammed the door closed before catching her lips with his. As he lifted her dress and found her lacking panties, he grinned and slid two fingers into her, reveling in the feeling of her writhing above him. Yeah, all he needed to drown out thoughts of Jackie was a hot chick bouncing above him. Moving quickly, Hyde slid a condom out of his wallet, freed himself from his pants, and sunk into Pam in one slow upwards thrust. He closed his eyes as she moved above him, and if he imagined a smaller girl with brunette curls framing her face…well, no one would ever know.

* * *

**A/N2**: Well, I said bittersweet, didn't I? If you've never looked into the whole history of 'Layla' (like what Clapton did after his years of unrequited love for Pattie Boyd) you should…because it's a rather apt comparison for our favorite couple, lemme tell you. If you think you might be able to put up with sad Hyde for a bunch more chapters, let me know, and if you can think of any other episodes you'd like to see put in this story, let me know that, too (seriously, it would help me a _lot_). Anonymous reviews accepted, so PLEASE let me know what you think. ) 


	2. Crossroads

**A/N:** Thanks to everyone who reviewed my first chapter! I know there are some unpleasant things that happen with Hyde and various sluts…but please don't get mad at me for including people and events as they happened in the show. It wasn't my idea...

**Hope**

_A long time ago_

_in a basement far far away,_

_the gang has just seen Star Wars._

_Jackie is thrilled to be back _

_with Kelso, but Kelso can't_

_seem to keep his eyes off of _

_Laurie Foreman._

_Meanwhile, Hyde has been_

_avoiding Jackie and the basement,_

_hoping to find something to take_

_his mind off of her…because having_

_a crush on your friend's girlfriend_

_sucks no matter what decade you live in._

_Am I right?_

_Anyways, right now, Jackie and Donna_

_sit in the Pinciotti's kitchen_

_discussing their boyfriends._

"When Michael and I were apart, he realized how much he missed me. I'm telling you, Donna, breaking up with him was the best thing I ever did!" Jackie was still giddy over being back with Kelso, and nothing could rain on her parade.

"I thought you said that getting a pedicure was the best thing you ever did!" Jackie just rolled her eyes at her friend.

"That was _last_ week, Donna!" Donna just nodded her head in mock understanding while her thoughts turned back to Eric and his stupid obsessive worry about David Millbank.

"I don't know, I don't know… I don't know what do to about Eric! He's acting like this possessive macho jerk!"

"Oh, I am _so _happy for you, Donna!" Jackie laughed, honestly thrilled for the redhead. What could be better than a boyfriend who loved you enough to want to be around you all the time?

"No, Jackie," Donna scoffed at the brunette, "I'm with him because I thought he wasn't like that!" Jackie just looked confused until Midge walked in.

"Mrs. Pinciotti, can you please tell Donna that I'm right? Isn't it cool when men act like they own you?" Midge smiled at the girls, looking excited.

"Oh yeah!" she exclaimed, her smile only falling when she saw Donna's face.

"Mom! What about all those feminist classes you took!" Midge stared blankly at her daughter for a moment before she smiled thoughtlessly.

"Oh! Right. No."

Jackie just shook her head at her friend, looking forward to Kelso being protective and possessive now that he had her back.

* * *

Kelso and Jackie sat together on the couch while Laurie folded laundry behind them.

"So, what do you wanna do tonight?" Jackie asked, looking over at Kelso hopefully, thinking about her empty house. It had been a long time since they had last been together…not since the pregnancy scare, and she found herself actually…wanting it. Her expression fell when she saw the look on his face. "Oh, and if you say 'see Star Wars' again, I'm leaving." She nodded emphatically while Kelso flipped into Obi Wan mode.

"You don't want to leave…You want to see Star Wars." Jackie stared at him for a moment before hitting him and jumping up from the couch.

"Stop it! I have _had_ it with you! You are weird, and I'm going home!" Jackie stomped out the back door, leaving Kelso alone with Laurie.

"Jackie," he called aimlessly at the closed door before Laurie captured his attention.

"Oh boy, that's terrible the way she treats you." Smiling at him, she put down her laundry and walked towards him.

"Right!" he exclaimed, smiling happily at Laurie.

"You know," Laurie said, swiveling her hips as she neared him, "I saw Star Wars, and I'm not a movie expert, but I think it's safe to say it was the greatest film of all time." She smiled at him flirtatiously.

"Finally! Someone who understands!" He grinned dumbly at Laurie.

"Yeah. You know, Kelso, I always thought you were kinda dumb…"

"Uh huh," he urged her to continue.

"But I don't care." Laurie leaned in and kissed him hard on the mouth, leaving him slightly dazed.

"You know, I don't either. It's…" Kelso never finished his statement as he jumped Laurie, devouring her mouth with his own.

Neither noticed Hyde standing on the basement steps watching the scene unfold with disgust.

* * *

God, it hadn't even been a week since prom, Hyde fumed to himself as he walked outside through the kitchen door. Kelso hadn't even had Jackie back for a whole week, and he couldn't keep it in his pants. He was more angry at his friend than he considered reasonable, and thus pissed off at himself. Why the hell should he care if Kelso was cheating on Jackie?

"What are you doing?" The words came out sounding more angry than he had intended, but he was shocked by the presence of Jackie perched on the hood of the Vista Cruiser staring up at the sky. Jackie popped up, trying to figure out why she was being yelled at. When she saw Hyde, she just rolled her eyes and lay back down.

"I don't have a ride home," she answered simply, although she didn't seem upset over that fact.

"And you are waiting out here because…"

"God, Hyde, can't you just, like, not be a jerk? I needed to get away from Michael and his stupid Star Wars crap or I was gonna scream. I'll go in and ask him for a ride soon." Hyde smiled at the thought of what Jackie would see when she walked through the doors. The image of Jackie running to him with tears in her eyes and throwing her arms around his neck filled his mind, but he distinctly told himself that that was _not_ why he wanted her to find out. She just deserved to know, and it would be a great burn on his idiotic friend.

"Yeah, uh, you should go do that." Jackie just rolled her eyes at his insistence.

"I told you, Hyde, I need to be away from him for a while." She paused in thought, "Why is he so obsessed with that stupid movie anyways? It's just a bunch of morons jumping around with fake swords and explosions. Who the hell kills a guy with a sword made out of light?" Hyde just laughed at her furrowed brow, silently cataloguing the expression as cute and shrugging his shoulders. "And it's not just that he likes a stupid movie, it's that he'd rather see it for the fourth time than come back to my _empty_ house! We haven't even done it since we got back together!" Suddenly she jumped up from the hood of the car and stomped her foot.

"Uh…" Hyde had literally nothing to say, and his imagination was working overtime, playing with the image of being alone with Jackie in her house. How had he never noticed how fucking hot she was when she was angry? Her face was flushed and she stalked towards him, and it hit him that she wasn't just angry, she was horny. Dear God, Jackie was turned on; he could see her nipples pebbling through her top even in the warm air. What he wouldn't give to push her back against the car and take them in his mouth. He was startled out of his thoughts by Jackie's shrill voice.

"Why does he have to be such a freakin' moron! He's supposed to be protective…and possessive." She closed her eyes as a shudder ran through her body, and Hyde thought he would give an arm and a leg to know what she was thinking about. "Instead, he's obsessed with that stupid movie! Uhhg!" she screamed, kicking some imaginary object on the ground.

"So why are you with him?" he managed to ask, tucking thoughts of possessing Jackie into the back of his mind. She searched his face for a long moment before answering.

"Because I love him." Her expression softened until she was smiling at him. "He was my first _everything_ and my _only_…" Trailing off, Jackie blushed up at him. "It's special to me that we can share that…being each others only lovers." Hyde thought he felt his heart rip in half at her words, but he wasn't sure if it was because she loved Kelso or because Kelso threw away her love like yesterday's newspaper. He only nodded, though, keeping a tight leash on his thoughts and feelings.

They stared at each other for a long moment before Jackie's gaze turned almost shy.

"I never thanked you," she whispered, walking even closer to him, "for what you did at Prom." Hyde nodded his head jerkily, too affected by her presence to speak. To Jackie, he just looked like his usual pissed off self. Another step forward and they were standing toe to toe, giving her the perfect platform to lean forward and wrap her arms around his neck. Instinctively, Hyde's arms snaked around her waist, holding her too tightly for a friendly hug, but as her lips brushed slowly over his cheek—not an inch from his lips—their embrace felt nothing like 'friendly.' The urge to turn his head slightly and capture her lips was too strong, though, and Hyde quickly stepped away from her with a frown.

"I thought we weren't going to do that anymore," he grumbled, staring at his feet. She just smiled widely at him.

"You might try to hide it, Hyde, but I know you don't hate me," she giggled, sticking out her tongue at him, unaware of the reaction Hyde had to the sight. "I'm going to go get Michael to take me home." Her happy skipping towards the house was stopped as Hyde grabbed her wrist, pulling her back towards him, sending her small body colliding into his. Letting his hands linger on her hips too long as he 'steadied' her, Hyde mumbled his explanation.

"I've got the keys to the Cruiser," he held up the ring and jangled it at her, "and I was heading that direction anyways." Jackie nodded her acceptance even through her baffled expression, but she didn't comment on the strangeness of the offered ride or the fact that one of Hyde's hands was still firmly gripping her hip.

Sliding his hand from her hip to the small of her back, Hyde lead Jackie to the passenger door of the Vista Cruiser and opened the door for her, earning him a brilliant smile. As he walked around to the driver side, he mentally cursed himself. What the fuck was he doing, touching her and voluntarily spending time with her? Why in God's name had he stopped her from finding her stupid boyfriend with Laurie? Seeing her smiling face as he climbed into her seat gave him all the answer he needed. Kelso would get caught eventually, but he didn't want to ruin things for Jackie when she looked so happy. And God, she was still horny; her nipples were poking through her shirt in a way that made him positive she wasn't wearing anything underneath.

He didn't notice he was staring at her until Jackie snapped her fingers in front of his face.

"Earth to Hyde!" Shaking himself back to reality, he smirked at her before slamming his door shut.

"You should really wear a bra with that shirt," he joked, silently praying that she wouldn't do something crazy like get mad or actually take the advice seriously. Her eyes widened with embarrassment for a moment before her expression melted into a smile.

"Take me home, you pig!" He just laughed with her, glad that he was so good at hiding his thoughts.

"Yes, dear."

* * *

**A/N2:** PLEASE REVIEW! Anonymous reviews are accepted, but it's really easy to set up an account so that when you send me really detailed reviews, I can write you back to discuss them more! ;) 


	3. All Together Now

**A/N: **Thanks to everyone for reading so far! Chapter titles will alternate between songs by George Harrison (mostly The Beatles) and Eric Clapton (and his various bands) for obvious reasons.

On with "Hyde Moves In." This chapter is a bit racy for the overall tone of the story…what can I say? It's hard for me to keep Hyde's mouth/thoughts clean when there's NO skinny dipping...and, well... there IS a reason I love this epsiode :p Please review.

* * *

**All Together Now**

"Guys, can we do something besides cruise? It's the third time tonight we've driven by that house!" Hyde groaned from the backseat, filled with nothing but hatred for his life. He seemed to have two choices: go back to the empty house he called a home and try to pretend that there was nothing wrong, or drive around all night with his stupid friends and try not to notice the way Jackie gazed adoringly at Kelso while Kelso basically ignored her. What a fucking moron.

"You know what we could do… We could go skinny dipping! Naked! That's the way God intended!" Kelso yelled, excited by the very idea of it. Hyde just closed his eyes, letting his head hit the backseat with a dull 'thud.' Naked Jackie, tiny and perfect with rosy tipped breasts and dark curly hairs hiding her most intimate places. Naked Jackie, her long, dark hair blowing around her shoulders as she gazed at him, eyes lit with fiery heat. Naked Jackie on her knees in front of him… He was pulled from his thoughts by Jackie's curt reply.

"No way." She crossed her arms over her chest, and even though he was disappointed that he wouldn't get to see her, he was also relieved. God knew his right arm was getting tired enough working with only the images of her in clothes, he didn't think he could handle any new ones.

"Why not? It'd be fun," Kelso whined, pouting at his girlfriend.

"Well sure, it's fun for you guys," Donna answered for both girls, "cause you'd get to look at us, and that's a treat! But we just get to look at you and that's nasty!"

"So, you don't wanna do it?" her boyfriend asked, his head clearly filled with his own naughty fantasy montage. Hyde wondered if his twitchy friend had even managed to get his girlfriend naked…he was guessing not. Who would have thought that stuck up little Jackie Burkhart would put out before Donna? He laughed at the misconceptions he had always harbored of his female friends. Jackie had always seemed so prude and Donna had always seemed so sensual. And, well, the opposite seemed to be true.

"Well, I don't care, I'll do it," Donna answered, looking squarely at Eric. _Fucking great_, Hyde thought to himself. If Donna was agreeing, there was no way Jackie was going to hold out, which meant they were going to be naked in the reservoir soon. Why the crap did that scare him so badly?

"Oh, okay, I'm in!" Eric's foot pressed harder on the gas now that he had a destination in mind, and Hyde almost laughed. Pushing aside feelings of fear, he started to get a little excited. Of course he wanted to see Jackie naked, and he may have gotten over Donna, but she was still fucking hot. Getting to look at both of them…he suddenly felt very dirty.

"Naked is dirty!" Fez voiced his thoughts exactly. "Dirty, dirty, dirty! Dirty dirty dirty!" Everyone laughed, whatever tension had filled the car as they thought about being naked together dissipated as they laughed at bounced in their seats.

"Dirty dirty dirty!"

* * *

Stepping out of the car with his friends, Hyde was surprised when the girls didn't run behind bushes to strip, but rather dropped their clothes on the ground next to the car and let the guys have an eyeful before running the few yards down to the water. Donna was every bit as curvy and gorgeous as he thought she would be, but Jackie was even more perfect that he had imagined. What was funny was that she looked nothing like the women that he usually identified as his type: big boobs, blonde hair, long legs. She had noticed his stare, the way his eyes moved over her, memorizing every part of her for future reference, and she had _winked_. Flirtatiously. Saucily. Sensually. Then her back was to him and he was staring at her hazy silhouette with a raging hard on as she ran to the water.

The guys had all paused, shirts off but pants still on, to watch the girls run, but as soon as they heard splashing and giggling in the distance, they finished stripping. They were all unable to help themselves from glancing at each other's equipment from the corner of their eyes, each boy too nervous about being caught to notice that everyone else was doing it, too. Hyde smiled triumphantly at the realization that he was the biggest, and strutted down to the water feeling damn sure of himself. Who the fuck cared if he didn't have a stable home or a steady girlfriend? Being with Chrissy had left him confident of his ability to pleasure a woman, and since he had been radiating that confidence, more than a few blonde sluts had thrown themselves at him. He could even swear that Jackie had been flirting with him, although some portion of his brain told him that she would respond favorably to any non-foreign man who showed interest in her. Pushing aside stray thoughts, he dove into the cold water and swam in the direction of Donna and Jackie, currently locked together in the hottest girl fight he had ever seen.

"You're gonna pay for that, lumberjack!" Jackie screamed and spluttered as she came up from underwater, jumping on Donna's shoulders and forcing the taller girl down. Hyde stared in awe as her small breasts, pulled to painfully tight peaks by the water temperature, jiggled with laughter and effort as she held Donna underwater. When Donna broke free and her larger chest blocked his view of Jackie's, he was almost disappointed. Still, it was the hottest thing he had ever seen. He didn't swim away until the rest of the guys had joined him the water. Donna and Eric immediately swam to a secluded section, and Hyde wondered what new ground his scrawny friend would get to cover tonight.

It was at least fifteen minutes later, while he was floating on his back and trying not to think about his mom, that he heard them. Jackie and Kelso.

"Come on, Jackie," he begged, "no one will see; we'll just go behind that tree. Please?" She sighed, clearly giving up whatever argument she had been using as she let him pull her out of the water and into a secluded spot on the side of the reservoir. He tried not to listen, tried to block out all thought of what he knew they were doing, but even as he dipped his head underwater and hummed the Stones to himself, he could hear her: her gasp as Kelso thrust into her, her quiet moan as he gained speed, her resigned sigh as he finished without her.

"Kelso, come quick!" Fez's voice rang through the water, and suddenly Kelso was swimming past him, leaving Jackie alone in the grove of trees. Now that she was alone, Hyde pulled his ears out of the water and openly listened to the quiet noises she made. She was moaning softly, her breath coming in sharp pants as he listened, his erection resurfacing even in the chilly water. With every gasp she made, he could imagine thrusting inside of her, seeing her wide, mismatched eyes staring back at him. He couldn't help letting his hand drift over his throbbing hardness as he imagined threading her silky hair through his fingers while he filled her completely. The sound of her orgasm washing over her, the nearly silent breathy scream that only he noticed, almost sent him over the edge, but he kept himself in check by remembering his friends, all swimming near by. He was standing in shallow water, barely up to his waist, when she emerged from the grove, tousled and wet and satisfied.

Her pale body was illuminated by the moonlight and he couldn't seem to look away even though she was looking right back at him, seemingly enjoying his heated stare. He thought that perhaps her eyes were flickering over his well defined chest, down to the erection barely hidden in the murky water, but even though he could see her body perfectly; her face was bathed in shadow. It was obvious from the way she carried herself, the ridiculously good posture and hands awkwardly trying to cover everything at once, that whatever bravado she was projecting was false, and her combined confidence and modesty made him want her even more. At that moment, he would have given anything to show her how good sex could be, how she didn't have to finish herself afterwards. Even if she never wanted him for anything but that, he would have gladly given it to her.

The gentle splash of her body as it ducked under the water again made him impossibly harder, and when she popped up mere inches from him, he gasped. They stared at each other for a long moment, and Hyde wondered how many of these strange moments he had had with her recently—moments of self-conscious silence where she seemed to be searching his eyes for something. For a second, he feared that there was about to be an awkward conversation, because being caught leering at her body like a horny pervert could only lead to awkward conversation, but instead she just blushed and looked away, towards the spot where her naked boyfriend was roughhousing with the bare assed foreign boy. When she looked back at him, she took a deep breath, and Hyde prepared himself to be chewed out, but instead he was met with giggles and a face full of water.

He stood still for a moment, shocked by her playfulness and the sight of her bare legs kicking out of the water as she tried to swim away. Gathering his wits about him, he reached out and grabbed her ankle, pulling her back towards him and dunking her head, holding her under for a good five seconds before her flailing limbs connected with his chest and he was forced to let her up. They were both laughing uncontrollably as they continued to splash back and forth, and the uncomfortable tension of a few minutes prior evaporated until Jackie leapt at him, forgetting their lack of clothes in her efforts to dunk him.

Their laughter disappeared when Hyde easily caught her before Jackie had a chance to push his head underwater, but instead of letting go, he held her naked body against his as she squirmed. He knew the moment that his erection brushed her, both from the tingling sensation that spread through his body and the way she stilled in his arms. Her wide eyes met his, and her lips parted slightly at the hungry look that greeted her.

"God, Jackie," he groaned, pulling her more tightly against him as his lips descended on hers. His whole body was throbbing with the need for release, and the way she gasped as their lips barely touched drove him crazy. He was about to thoroughly claim her mouth when an enraged yell caused them to quickly break apart.

"Get back here with our clothes!" Kelso screamed as indistinct figures made off with every last stitch that had been lying around the car. Their moment broken, Hyde watched quietly as Jackie swam towards her boyfriend, never looking back at the boy she was leaving behind. God, he needed a beer.

* * *

Changed into dry clothes, Hyde reclined on his couch, passing out beers to his friends while the girls rummaged through his mom's closet for clothes. Jackie hadn't glanced at him once the whole car ride home, hadn't even met his eyes as he pointed her and Donna into his mom's room.

"So this is your home?" Fez asked, drawing Hyde out of his thoughts.

"Yup," Hyde answered, taking another long sip of his beer. He would have given anything, he thought, to have never had to bring his friends here. To have never had to bring Jackie here. It was bad enough that she had been by to pick him up before prom; what was she going to think of him now?

"Well this explains a lot of your behavior," Fez nodded to himself as Hyde tossed him a beer. If the comment stung a little, well, what did that matter? It was Fez, after all, Fez who probably grew up in a hut or something. At least Hyde had color TV.

"Come on man, this is great!" he exclaimed, not even having to work to hide his insecurities after years of practice. "It's better than Forman's basement. That's a color T.V. and I just got new vice grips, so now we can watch any channel we want!" He tossed a beer to Eric while trying to ignore the concerned look on his friend's face. That look could never mean good things.

"Hyde, your mom really just ran off with some trucker?" he asked, and Hyde rolled his eyes as he silently willed Eric to just shut up about the whole thing.

"No Forman, I made it up because it sounds so _classy_."

"Why would she just run off with some trucker?" Eric continued, and in his head, Hyde screamed at him to stop.

"It's spring time! Love is in the air man!" For a split second, he remembered his moment with Jackie…all the love in the air, but Eric's inability to take a hint forced him to stay in reality.

"Hyde... and she just left you here alone?"

"Look, I realize this is hard for you to get your head around Oppie," he began, covering his irritation with false confidence. "You're failing to see the upside here. We've got food, we've got beer, we have zero adult supervision. Welcome to Camp Naughty Bad Fun!" As if on cue, Donna and Jackie emerged from his mom's room, Donna wearing a revealing floral night gown, but Jackie wrapped in just an old blanket.

"Jackie, you couldn't find anything?" he asked, trying to keep his eyes off of her.

"Ok, but no offense Hyde, but all your mother's clothes are whory." Her eyes met his for the first time since their moment in the reservoir, and the look he saw there, devoid of cruelty and filled with regret and sympathy, cut him to the bone. Jackie would never look at him as anything but a charity case, and he was just a fucking moron if he thought differently.

"What?" Donna asked, looking offended and failing to notice the tension between Jackie and Hyde.

"Oh, but they look great on you Donna!" Jackie patted her friend on the arm and Hyde had to chuckle to himself. For a stubborn little rich girl, she could burn with the best of them when she put her mind to it.

"Thanks Jackie," Donna replied sarcastically, eagerly accepting a beer from Hyde as Jackie walked over to Kelso.

"Michael, can you please take me home? Look, I think I caught something at the reservoir." Hyde wondered if she was really feeling bad or if she just wanted to get the hell away from him and his crappy house, so she could go back to staring at her cheating boyfriend like he hung the moon.

"Like an eel?" Kelso asked, referring to what she might have caught. None of the guys could contain their laughter at the idea, even as Jackie stamped her foot.

"Not that you idiot! I think I'm sick!" she screeched at her boyfriend, pulling him alone outside and avoiding Hyde's eyes again as she left.

"Oh, I caught an eel!" Fez piped up next to him. Throwing his friend a disgusted look, Hyde scooted away and tried not to think about Jackie.

* * *

"Hey," Jackie addressed Hyde as she stomped into the basement. He nodded his head, acknowledging her presence, but was surprised when she sat down on the couch seat closest to his chair. "So you're living here, now?" she asked, avoiding the conversation that Hyde assumed she wanted to have.

Hyde's answer was little more than a grunt and a nod of his head as he avoided looking directly at her…ever since that night, he couldn't look at her without seeing her naked body, feeling her pressed up against him. Just the memory made him hard as an iron rod, and he almost missed what she said next.

"My mom left last week," she offered, staring down at the ground as she made the confession. "I haven't told anyone else because, you know," she met his eyes and he read the same self conscious pride in them that made him hate Eric for dragging him home like a stray dog. The thought that he wasn't alone in his pain comforted him somewhat, but Hyde didn't know how to react to vulnerability, so he lashed out.

"I bet it wasn't with a trucker, though, and you've still got your rich daddy and your mansion and your servants." He shook his head in disgust, not noticing the way her eyes welled up with tears.

"No, it was with the pool boy, while my dad was out of town." Her breath hitched as she spoke and Hyde heard the raw pain in her voice. "God, I don't know why I thought I should tell you," she mumbled to herself, standing up and turning towards the door when she felt Hyde's hand grip hers.

"Why _did_ you tell me?" he asked quietly, searching her eyes for the truth.

"I don't know Hyde, maybe because it seemed like we were going through something similar and we could comfort each other. You know…like friends." She shook her head on the last word, lowering her eyes to the floor and not noticing the pained expression on his face at the word 'friends.' As she tried to pull away again, Hyde tugged on her hand to stop her before standing up. Awkwardly, he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close and loving the way her head fit right into the crook of his neck. Her arms slid around his neck, holding herself to him tightly as she cried, and he rubbed her back comfortingly, barely even reacting to the certain knowledge that she wasn't wearing a bra.

"Sorry," he grumbled, barely even forming the word. He wasn't sure whether he was sorry about her shitty boyfriend, or her mother leaving, or for acting like an ass, or for almost kissing her in the reservoir. Probably all four.

"Me too," Jackie replied, the soft words buried in his neck. He wondered if she was sorry about his mom or the fact that she didn't like him the way he liked her. Probably both, he decided.

They held each other for a long time, not parting until they heard Eric's voice wafting down from the kitchen, saying something about hot coco and cookies.

"Thanks, Hyde," she whispered, kissing his cheek as she pulled away, "you're a good friend." There was heavy emphasis on the word _friend,_ but she gazed into his eyes for a long moment, and he couldn't help but smile at her. He watched the gentle sway of her hips as she left the basement, thinking about what a truly horrible friend he was to be entertaining these thoughts about his friend's girlfriend, but damn, Kelso had to screw up some time.

* * *

**A/N2: Anonymous reviews accepted. PLEASE tell me what you think? Pretty please? It means a lot to me. :)  
**


	4. Rollin' and Tumblin'

A/N: Thanks to everyone for reading and reviewing! It means a lot to me to know what my readers are thinking. This episode combines _Burning Down the House_, _The First Time_, and _Afterglow_… I noticed while watching the episodes that Jackie was acting "Zen" towards Kelso! How awesome is that?

Just a note to an anonymous reviewer who was wondering, I (like so many FF writers) _do_ carry the assumption that Kelso sucks in bed…although I've always assumed it was only with Jackie…maybe it's Jackie's fault, maybe it's because their relationship sucks, or maybe it's because she's his ace in the hole to do it with and he doesn't have to try to impress her (my personal favorite). I mean, all through the first four seasons of the show, Jackie talks about sex in a way that you _know_ she's not really enjoying it, and remember _The Velvet Rope_, where they go from fully dressed to fully dressed between 6:48 and 6:50? So, yeah, that's where that comes from…I ended up analyzing this stuff way too much while getting into _Hyde Bags Jackie_ :p

Please be warned that this is also somewhat racy… This is the episode with Kat Peterson and Hyde having "No, Disneyland is fun, that was nasty" sex. Please be forgiving of any small errors you come across…I'm working on three stories at once right now, and perfect editing may fall short.

* * *

**Rollin' and Tumblin'**

Hyde reclined against his locker, wondering why the hell he had bothered to show up to school at all. It was just another lame day where lame teachers tried to brainwash him with crap about history and English and algebra. As he contemplated ditching the rest of the day, he noticed Jackie and Kelso walking together towards Kelso's locker.

"…a nice quiet evening tomorrow night, so plan on being there, okay?" Jackie was asking, sounding much sweeter than Hyde thought she could actually be. He watched her face twitch with frustration as her ass of a boyfriend stared at another hot blonde chick sailing down the hallway. "Michael!" Jackie screeched, sounding just like the bitchy cheerleader he knew and loved.

"Damn, Jackie, I said I'd go to your party, and I'll even bring a keg and some guys I know from…" His offer was cut off when Jackie stomped on his foot and threw her hands up in exasperation before stalking down the hallway, her cheerleading skirt almost bouncing up over her butt. Hyde wondered how it could be that Kelso got to have sex with _her_ and yet she was the only girl he didn't stare at as he walked to class.

An involuntary shiver coursed through his body as Hyde remembered the last time he had really talked to her alone…two months ago after their "moment" in the reservoir, as he had taken to calling it in his own head. He had been avoiding her like the plague ever since, hooking up with random sluts in favor of hanging out in the basement if there was even a chance she would be there. Especially if there was a chance he might see her alone. Lines got fuzzy when he was alone with her: it didn't bother him that she was Kelso's girl, or that she was young and inexperienced. There was just a magnetic pull towards her that was easy to ignore when his friends were around—a few well placed burns kept him fully aloof—but it became overpowering when it was just the two of them. That's where the sluts helped, he smiled to himself. How could he possibly be upset over all this crap when there was an endless parade of girls knocking on his door?

His thoughts were interrupted by a familiar blonde.

"Steven Hyde," Kat Peterson drawled his name quietly in the now empty hallway. The sly smile on her face told him everything he needed to know about her intentions…he'd been getting around quite a bit lately, and she wanted to know if the ride was as good as she'd heard. Ditching the rest of the day sounded pretty great, especially with Jackie bouncing around in her cheer uniform, so he took Kat's hand and started outside to her car.

* * *

"What the hell are you doing here?" Jackie asked curtly as she pulled Hyde out of the living room, where the party was happening, and into the privacy of a hallway. 

"Your _mannerly_ boyfriend invited me," Hyde snickered, but Jackie just rolled her eyes.

"Why does he have to be such a freakin' idiot?" She collapsed against a wall, giving Hyde the chance to admire her in her cream colored outfit. Her skin seemed to glow against the flowing floral printed top, and he couldn't help staring at her. "I just…I just wanted to have a nice night, you know? A few couples, an adult party like what my _parents_ always used to throw." Her face crumpled in tears and Hyde remembered that he wasn't the only one dealing with absent parents.

"Jackie…it'll be okay," he tried to comfort her, wrapping his arms around her as she gravitated towards his warmth. They spent several minutes in the embrace, Jackie soaking up his comfort as he inhaled the sweet, musky scent of her perfume. Slowly, she pulled her head away from his shoulder and stared up into his eyes, her lips slightly parted in what Hyde took to be a silent invitation. Her close proximity was too much, and he couldn't stop himself from leaning down and brushing his lips over hers, sending a tingling thrill down his back. He was about to pull away, but Jackie's small hand slid around the back of his neck, securing his lips to hers before sliding her tongue into his mouth. They groaned together at the sensation and Hyde let his hands wander over her torso before sliding over her butt and pulling her hips flush with his own. The feeling of his erection pressing intimately into her caused Jackie to pull away, panting and flushed.

"Michael." She stuttered out his name. "I have to go find him…" With that she turned and ran away, leaving a frustrated Hyde to join his friends.

An hour later, Hyde had quietly watched as his moron friend ruined Jackie's party and set part of her house on fire. God that was funny. Part of him knew that he was a terrible friend for feeling like he had a lot to gain from his friend's screw-ups, but most of him really didn't care. Kelso was a rat bastard and Jackie deserved better. Better didn't necessarily lead to _him_, he knew, unless she was looking to spend a little time slumming it, but damn, it was something of an ego-killer to pine for a girl in love with a moron.

Thinking of Jackie slumming it inevitably lead to thoughts of Kat Peterson. What the hell was up with that bitch, he wondered. Sure, he wasn't rich or on the freakin' football team, but a total lack of acknowledgement? That was painful. If she ever came crawling back to him again he wouldn't… He never even finished the thought because he knew he would jump at the chance to take her again. How many rich blonde chicks got off on hard, dirty sex? And damn, if she was gonna try to humiliate him in public, surely he could return the favor in private. Images of her on her knees in front of him as he grabbed fistfuls of her long blonde hair filled his head and he had to physically shake himself to rattle them free.

"Hello Steven," a familiar voice interrupted his thoughts and he looked down to see the girl he had just been thinking about. Whore.

"Oh, I see how this is gonna be. So when you're with your little clique, you're too good for me." He glared at her through his sunglasses, daring her to say otherwise.

"Right," she answered, "but they're gone now, so….hi." She stepped closer to him, smiling seductively and dropping obvious hints about what she wanted.

"You know, for a rich girl, you're kind of skanky." He smirked when her pupils dilated with arousal at the insult. "Come on; lemme show you the garage." They left together as the party disintegrated, neither noticing Fez's yell behind them.

"That proves nothing!"

* * *

It was a good thirty minutes later, while Hyde had Kat bent over Jackie's Lincoln, that Jackie walked through the empty house and by the garage. Soft screams from within piqued her interest, and she couldn't squelch the desire to peak. The door opened quietly as Hyde wound his fingers through Kat's hair, pulling her head back against him as he drove into her, whispering under his breath that she was just a dirty slut. Those words set her off, shaking uncontrollably around him, but Hyde was still searching for his elusive goal when he noticed Jackie's shocked face staring at them. 

Their eyes locked as Hyde continued to thrust into Kat's oblivious body, and for a split second, he could imagine that it was Jackie beneath him, that he was 'making love' (or something equally corny) to the girl he cared about. That split second was all it took to send him over the edge, still holding Jackie's gaze and groaning something incoherent that sounded a hell of a lot more like "Jackie" than "Kat."

Closing his eyes in an effort to take control of his breathing, Hyde missed the exact moment that Jackie turned and walked away, her eyes wide with surprise and her body humming with something that felt a lot like arousal.

It took longer to dispose of his condom than it did to take his leave of Kat, so Hyde followed closely behind Jackie, catching up to her just as she walked into her bedroom. Hyde slid inside after her and closed the door behind him.

"Jackie," he whispered, suddenly unsure of why he had followed her. He didn't owe her any explanation, it wasn't as though she was his girlfriend. Shouldn't he be avoiding her at a time like this? But damn, he really didn't want her to think he was just some asshole, obsessed with sex and nothing else. And after he had kissed her earlier…

They stared at each other for a long, tension filled moment before Hyde got the bright idea to turn around and get the hell out of the awkward situation. His hand was on the doorknob when Jackie's touch on his shoulder stopped him and forced him to look at her.

"Sorry you had to see that," he mumbled under his breath, dropping his gaze to the floor.

"Did she…want that?" Jackie asked, looking up at him with wonder and a trace of fear. His eyes darkened at her words; did she really think he would… "NO! That's not what I meant. I meant, like, you were being so…uhh, rough, and calling her names, and…" She trailed off, looking at the floor herself in embarrassment.

"Yeah, Kat's, uhh, she likes…" Hyde trailed off, running a hand over his face in exasperation. "Can we maybe not talk about this?" Jackie nodded her head in assent, but the way she looked at him told him that the subject wasn't closed.

"Michael never does it like that… She looked, uhh…" Jackie blushed, clearly in agreement that they needed to find a new conversation topic. Trying to push aside the image of taking Jackie in lots of ways Kelso had probably never thought of, he fished for a new topic while squelching the ridiculous pain he felt when she didn't seem to even remember that he had kissed her earlier.

"So, I guess Kelso ruined your party, huh?" Hyde supplied the needed change.

"UG!" Jackie screeched, stomping her foot on the ground. "He set my freakin' house on _fire_ Hyde! How can he be such a moron?"

"Kelso's always been a moron, Jackie. You can't get mad at him for that," Hyde reasoned, wondering why he was defending the idiot. Not that calling him a moron was a friendly defense.

"It's just that…it's been a really rough night, you know? Daddy told me a long time ago that I was dating a dufus, but it doesn't help that he's an inattentive dufus who can't seem to listen to a word I say." She shook her head sadly at the thought of her boyfriend, guilt over their earlier kiss clearly far from her mind. "I love him, you know? But sometimes I wonder…"

Hyde closed his eyes tightly at her admission, trying to will away the terrible feeling of inadequacy. Jackie was his _friend_ dammit. The fact that she was supposed to be nothing more than a friend made it all the more irritating that he couldn't seem to pull his eyes away from her mouth as she spoke. Had he really tasted her less than two hours ago?

"I swear he takes me for granted," she continued, now pacing the room. "I wish I knew how to act around him to make him appreciate me more."

Pushing away any non-friendly thoughts about Jackie, Hyde tried to focus on saying something helpful. Something friendly.

"Kelso takes you for granted because you're always around and he can always anticipate what you're going to do. You just have to surprise him by being aloof; he'll get confused and be all over you, trying to get your attention." Jackie tilted her head to the side inquisitively.

"How do I act aloof?" she asked, the angle of her head exposing her creamy neck to his eyes. God he wanted to taste her there, and he almost forgot to answer her question as he stared at the smooth skin.

"Just, uh, ignore him, you know? When he asks you a question, don't answer it; let him off with a 'whatever.' Don't do what he expects you to do." Nodding his head sagely, Hyde figured he had just given her some damn good advice on how to get Kelso to pay attention to her.

Jackie smiled happily at him. "Thanks. And, look, about what happened earlier…uhh…" She blushed and looked down at the floor. "I'm with Michael, you know… Just… Don't tell anyone, okay? I was just…"

"I know, Jackie, it's cool," he cut her off, smiling slightly at her. God, she was beautiful. Beautiful and totally off limits.

"Thanks, Hyde." Looking around her room, she located her purse and picked it up. "I was gonna go see Donna…do you need a ride back to the Forman's or something?"

They walked together to the garage, sharing an awkward moment as they stood at the Lincoln, both thinking back to what Hyde had been doing there earlier.

"Sorry 'bout that," he mumbled as he saw her eyeing the smudges on the hood. He was struck with the realization that he had done two girls in and on this car, and both times he had imagined being buried inside of Jackie. She just blushed ran around to the passenger seat, tossing him the keys and trusting him to drive.

* * *

­­­­ 

Jackie stood near Kelso at Bob and Midge's wedding rehearsal, continuing with the tips Hyde had given her about aloofness.

"Jackie. Hear me now. I am not helping with any of the wedding stuff." Kelso was clearly waiting for her to force him into doing something involving weddings, so she shrugged her shoulders.

"Good." She looked away from him, radiating disinterest in everything he had to say.

"Oh, nice try, Jackie, but the reverse psychology's not gonna work on me. My mind's too powerful." That statement was laughable at best, so Jackie just rolled her eyes.

"Whatever." She walked away, flipping her hair and leaving her irritated boyfriend behind her.

"Ok. No, wait, Jackie, that's confusing! I'm not chasing after you!" Kelso glanced around the room briefly before chasing after her, not noticing the triumphant smile on Jackie's face or the wink she shared with Hyde. Looking after her, Hyde smiled with admiration at how well Jackie was employing his tactics. Aloofness suited her well: She seemed even hotter today than she had yesterday.

The next day, after the wedding, Jackie ran towards Hyde, gripping her pink and purple unicorn candy dish, and failing to notice the comfortable conversation Laurie and Kelso had begun.

"Thank you SO much, Hyde! You were so right! I just had to ignore him a little and he crumbled at my feet!"

They strolled together back towards the Forman household, amiably discussing the events of the day until a slightly uncomfortable silence fell between them. Hyde couldn't seem to keep his gaze off of her, and judging by the way she kept her eyes solidly on the ground, Jackie was thinking about the same thing he was.

"Donna and Eric finally did it," Jackie blurted out, surprising Hyde. She nodded matter-of-factly. "It was, like, written all over her face."

"Huh," Hyde nodded to himself, thinking that he'd have to congratulate his friend later. He wondered when the thought of Eric and Donna together had become so natural, when he had stopped cringing at the idea of them doing it. Looking over at Jackie, her hair blowing softly in the wind, he had a fairly good idea of when it had happened. He was lost in his own thoughts and almost missed what Jackie said next as she rambled to herself.

"She said it wasn't very good, which isn't that surprising because I mean, it's Eric and ewww… She thought it was going to be different somehow, instead of just…you know…sex." Jackie made a face before looked up at him thoughtfully. "You know, Kat looked like she was, uh, enjoying it. Is it always good when you do it that way?" Hyde's eyes widened as he took in her naive, wide eyed expression.

"Uh, no?" He looked around the yard wondering how he was going to get out of this conversation.

"Do you think that girls like it a lot when you do it with them?" Her guileless eyes bore into him, and he was struck by how young and innocent she really was. "I think they do like it, because I bet you care if they like it. I mean, it was Eric's first time, so it's not his fault that he was bad, but he wants Donna to like it, so I bet eventually she will." Her eyes turned sad as she stood in the middle of the grass. "I don't think Michael cares if I like it, though." Her gaze seemed to focus on something far away as she continued. "I bet if _you_…" Jackie blushed suddenly, as though it just dawned on her that she was standing in her friend's yard discussing sex. "I have to go."

With that, Jackie ran back into the Pinciotti's house, leaving Hyde to walk the rest of the way to the basement in silence, wondering if Jackie had really been imagining having sex with him.

* * *

**A/N2: **Please review and let me know what you think! Anonymous reviews are accepted and encouraged! Whether or not you have an account, you count as a hit on my stats page, and it can be incredibly depressing to know that hundreds of people are opening/reading something I've spent hours and hours working on but don't think enough of it to review (I'm sure anyone who writes can understand that feeling). It's really easy to imagine that all those people who read and don't review just hate it. So…if you've enjoyed any part of my story, or even if you've hated any part of my story, **_please_ **just click the little "Go" button and let me know, even if you don't consider yourself part of the fanfic community. Thanks. :-) 


	5. You Like Me Too Much

**A/N: **Holy crap…remember this story? Kind of? Thanks to everyone who has reviewed and told me they like it. It'll be done in just a few more chapters…

I know everyone's anxious for them to be together, but I am seriously looking at this as a view of what really truly happened between Jackie and Hyde over the course of the show, and they'll get together just the same way. (I'm not gonna cheat like I did with HBJ and start inventing my own plot lines…) Believe it or not, it actually has an ending point and a kind of purpose…plus I just really like Hyde being a little more pathetic and a little less badass (at least in his thoughts). After all, I'm equating him with Clapton in the throws of his Patti Boyd love/heroin addiction here. (Don't forget about the title of the story :p) So, yes, this is all kind of building up to my final chapter, and I'm hoping I can be done with this before the New Year (I'm crossing my fingers…).

**You Like Me Too Much**

Sitting on the padded bench that passed for a bed in his small jail cell, Hyde sighed loudly. At least he was alone…no cellmates or any such crap. It pissed him off tremendously that he was in there, but as much as he wanted to blame it on Jackie, he knew that it was his own stupid fault. Lying back on the thin padding, he thought about the last few weeks and everything that had led up to him sitting in jail waiting for Red Forman to stick a boot up his ass. It had all started when Kelso and Jackie finally broke up over Laurie, and rather than pushing her away, Hyde let Jackie drag him to the mall.

Jackie and Hyde had sat together in her Lincoln, admiring Hyde's new boots and ignoring the awkwardness between them at his rejection of her kiss. He could tell that he had confused her, and he honestly didn't blame her; after all, he had let her kiss him before, back when she was thoroughly Kelso's girlfriend.

But he wasn't going to put himself out there; he wasn't going to get involved with her just to suffer when she ran back to Kelso. And if there was one thing Hyde was sure of in life, it was that Jackie would always go running back to Kelso, no matter what the asshole did.

Although, he had to admit, he had loved the boots, and the flattery, and the way she kissed him right on the corner of his mouth, leaving his friends in righteous outrage that the girl they both loved chose to kiss him. That day, despite what he had tried to tell Jackie, had turned out to be the beginning of a tentative friendship between them, and he had to admit that a part of him liked the fact that she always wanted to be around him. It wasn't easy, he admitted to himself, to have her hanging around him, too innocent and clueless to notice the way he reacted to her presence and her touches. But the day that had changed it all from a tentative friendship to a shot at something more was the day he 'taught' her Zen…

* * *

_Hyde sat polishing his boots as Jackie paced a small circle in the middle of the basement. She had been spending more and more time with him since she and Kelso had split up, trying to be his 'friend,' and it was slowly driving him insane. After the break up, it hadn't surprised him at all that Jackie threw herself at him: They had had many strange moments together where the air seemed to crackle with lust, and he could tell that she felt it, too. But after what had happened at Prom, Hyde wasn't about to do anything with Jackie just to lose her when she finally forgave Kelso._

"_Laurie makes me SO mad!" she screeched, turning towards him. "I just wanna rip out her hair, show it to her and hope it doesn't grow back." She cocked her head to the side, her face showing how seriously she took this. "I hate her." _

_And that was why he was glad he had pushed her away in the car that day after she had bought him the boots. That was why he was glad that he never showed how much he loved it when she got close. She wasn't over Kelso, and she was never going to be over Kelso. He wanted to tell her that Laurie wasn't worth hating and Kelso wasn't worth loving, but instead he settled for: "Jackie, that's what she wants. She feeds on your anger man, it only makes her stronger."  
_

"_Well then what am I supposed to do?" Her perplexed face was actually kind of cute. Cute enough to make him forget why he didn't want her hanging around so much…which demonstrated perfectly why he didn't want her hanging around so much. "If you really want to get under her skin, you have to be Zen."_

"_Zen?" Her incredulous look and the way she rolled her eyes brought a smile to his face in spite of himself. "Okay, you can't just make up words Hyde."  
_

"_No, man, Zen. At peace, aloof... Zen."  
_

"_Oh. Okay… then, Hyde, will you teach me how to be Zen?" She strolled towards him as she talked, and he was struck by how innocent she looked. He knew, hell probably knew too much, about how NOT innocent she could be, but the fact remained that he usually went after blondes with big boobs and reputations a mile long. He usually went after girls that didn't want more than sex or maybe a week's worth of monogamy. And Jackie…Jackie was the total opposite of that. She wasn't the kind of girl you could sneak down to the basement or screw in someone's garage. What scared him, though, was that when he had dreams about Jackie, they were never fantasies about meaningless release. There was always something more that made his whole body tingle with anticipation, and just thinking about it left him hard and wanting. Somehow, he managed to continue the conversation.  
_

"_You can't just teach someone to be Zen, Jackie; you can only learn to be Zen."  
_

"_Okay, I don't understand."  
_

"_Exactly. And that's your first lesson."  
_

"_Huh?!"  
_

"_Jackie, if you wanna be my student you need to follow my instructions without question." God, that brought a lot of dirty thoughts to his head. Especially thoughts about Jackie dressed up like Jeannie, doing whatever he wanted.  
_

"_Okay okay, see, I can do that." She skipped to him and settled on the couch enthusiastically, her lips turned up in a playful smile as she watched him expectantly. He was suddenly beset with a very vivid image of Jackie using those luscious lips on him enthusiastically…_

_"Okay," he swallowed hard and pushed those thoughts away. "First thing, finish polishing my boots." He placed his boot and the soft cloth in her hand, needing to vanish into his room for a few minutes before he embarrassed himself.  
_

"_Okay Hyde, how is THAT gonna help..."  
_

"_WHAT?"  
_

"_Okay!" She started rubbing and Hyde took off to his private sanctuary.  
_

"_You make a fine student! Shine Grasshopper! Shine!" He had to get away from her…had to make her stop coming around him, and now he had given her a reason to keep coming to the basement and pestering him with her gorgeous mouth that would probably feel so good wrapped around him… He banged his head against the wall when he got into his room, trying to physically knock loose any thoughts of Jackie._

* * *

"God, Jackie," Hyde groaned in the cool night air. They were standing waist deep in the murky water of the reservoir, their naked bodies in full contact, their lips breathing in the same air. They had been leaning towards each other in an 'almost' kiss for what seemed an eternity, unable to go further. That night, the spell had been broken by Kelso's scream that their clothes were being stolen…but now, the only sound was Jackie.

"Please, Hyde," Jackie gasped. That noise was enough to spur him onwards, and their lips finally connected in a flurry of passion.

"Jesus," Hyde panted into her mouth as their lips and tongues collided; the fiery intensity of the kiss was almost too much to handle, and he couldn't refrain from lifting her buoyant body easily in the water and wrapping her legs firmly around his waist. He moaned her name loudly as he sunk into her, living out his every fantasy as he took her right there in the water.

"Hyde," she moaned, sending shivers through his body and bringing him to the brink of his release.

"Jackie…"

"_Hyde?" Her soft voice at his door drove him instantly to orgasm, and he groaned loudly as the sticky fluid of his release spilled over his hand. "Hyde, are you okay?" she asked quietly, her voice sounding sincere in her concern. His first attempt to answer just came out as a moan._

"_Yeah," he answered finally. The word was shaky, and all he could think was that he needed to get her away from his room before she walked in and found out that he had been masturbating to the thought of her. "I just, uh, fell asleep. I'll be a minute." _

"_Okay…are you sure you're alright? It sounded like you hurt yourself or something. Do you need anything?" _

_Yes... Was what he thought, his dick hardening again as he imagined all the things he needed from her. But out loud, he answered in the negative, and Jackie slowly walked back out to the basement couch. He had spent ten minutes jacking it in the hope that he could be around her without an erection, but a few words from her and he was hard again. God, he thought to himself, he was tremendously screwed._

* * *

_­­­­­­­_

_Several hours later, Hyde slouched on the sofa watching his 'graduate' as she bounced in his usual chair. Jackie giggled loudly as she ate another Oreo, the black crumbs collecting around the corners of her mouth before she brushed them away. The others had long since abandoned the circle, leaving Hyde and Jackie alone in the basement to celebrate her triumph over Laurie._

"_I don't even like Michael that much anyways," she announced as though she had been involved in a conversation rather than sitting in a mildly awkward silence. Slowly, as she was still unsure of her balance, Jackie moved to sit next to Hyde on the couch, curling towards him as she talked. "He never wanted me in the circle. He said I'd embarrass him."_

_Hyde laughed at that as Jackie giggled and brushed away more Oreo crumbs from her dress. "Well, I can understand that." His tone was light and joking, though, and Jackie just stuck out her tongue at him in response before taking several long gulps from a cream soda. "Everyone embarrasses themselves in their first circle," Hyde explained, his memories taking him back. "Hell, Kelso's first time, he ate a whole bag of dog treats, thinking they were cookies." _

_Jackie giggled and scooted even closer so that she was pressed up against him, making their thighs touch from knee to hip. As she leaned in closer, Hyde stayed facing forward, trying to ignore the feeling of her warm breath. She was high, he reminded himself, and she was hung up on Kelso no matter what she said. He didn't want this…couldn't want this. He jumped, though, when he felt her lips brush his neck._

"_Jackie…" Hyde tried to pull away, but Jackie just crawled into his lap._

"_Hyde…Steven…" Her lips wandered down his neck again, kissing the soft, smooth flesh. When she reached the collar of his shirt, she pulled back. "You like me," she informed him, grinding her hips over the obvious erection hidden under his pants. "I like you… Do you ever wonder what it would be like if we…" Before Hyde had time to contemplate what to do, Jackie leaned in and pressed her lips against his, delving her tongue into his mouth passionately._

_The feel of her soft lips over his was enough to completely erase the lingering thoughts about why this was a bad idea, and with his mind clear of any thoughts besides how sweet she smelled and how good she tasted and how soft she felt beneath his wandering hands, he kissed her back. The kiss grew rougher as one of his large hands slid up her arched back and into her thick brunette hair, anchoring her lips to his as he pivoted on the couch, laying her out on her back and covering her body with his own.  
_

_It was while they were like that, tangled together in a fit of passion, that Kelso came dashing into the basement, panting from his fear of Red as he ran. His loud, girlish screams were enough of a warning to give Hyde and Jackie time to pull apart, and they were sitting on opposite sides of the couch when the taller boy made his appearance. _

"_Man, I thought Red was gonna kill me…" Kelso began, speaking only to Hyde, before his eyes fell on Jackie's disheveled form. "Hi, Jackie," he sneered at her meanly, clearly believing that her rumpled dress and smeared makeup had something to do with him._

"_Hi, Michael," she responded. Hyde was too busy worrying about what they had just done to notice that her words lacked any passion—hatred or love—and seemed like more of a dismissal than a plea for attention. He was too busy worrying about the fact that he could never be involved with Jackie to notice that Laurie had called down for Kelso to come help her move her furniture. He was still wrapped up in his thoughts when Jackie moved back over him, laying another soft kiss on his neck._

"_Steven," she whispered in his ear, her tone promising something that he didn't quite understand. _

"_Jackie…we can't…"_

"_Sure we can." Her smile was almost wicked as she responded, and as much as it turned him on, Hyde felt that he had no choice but to push her off his lap. After all, she was still hung up on Kelso…right?_

"_No…I don't…I don't like you that way, Jackie." The statement lacked the finality he had hoped to give it, and instead it came out sounding pathetic and stupid, which was apt, because it was pretty much how he felt._

"_God, you're so full of shit, you know that?" She shook her head at him and started for the basement door. "We could be good together, Steven," Jackie informed him matter-of-factly, and Hyde wondered briefly if she would have said that if not for the weed, "And I'm gonna prove it."_

* * *

And so Jackie's attempts to win him over had begun, ending with the purchase of weed. _Stupid fucking cheerleader,_ he thought to himself, knowing that he wasn't actually mad at her. After all, he had all but dared her to do something big and bad…it was hardly her fault that she had gone along with it. He had been so fucking obvious in showing her he liked her…more than liked her, in fact. She had seen his stares; she had felt his reaction to the careful hugs and touches she had bestowed upon him. It was hardly her fault that she couldn't figure out his irrational behavior…drawing her closer with one hand while pushing her away with the other.

All she had wanted at first was to be his friend… And now, Jackie's attempts to be his 'friend' were the least of his worries. Now, Jackie 'loved' him. It was stupid really, her girlish fantasy that they could be anything to each other. He could see everything playing out…he'd get out of the fucking cell and she would follow him everywhere like a stupid puppy. It wasn't enough that she haunted his dreams… Every time he turned around, she would be there, reminding him of what he could never have. God, he thought to himself, he was tremendously screwed.

* * *

A/N: Pretty please take a second to let me know what you thought of my poor little Hyde and his 'unrequited' love? Don't get too impatient with me because they aren't together yet… I'm almost done, and like I said, I'm totally going somewhere with this. Whether it's somewhere good is something you'll have to judge when we get there. Next time is Veteran's Day… 


	6. Wonderful Tonight

A/N: Okay, so, it's painfully clear that this story isn't as popular as my other one, but it's _almost_ done… I have the epilogue written out, and I just _need_ to get there, so I probably won't update HBJ again until I'm done with this…just one more chapter and then the epilogue, I think. As I said before, I'm looking at this not as an alternate universe, but as the true actions/thoughts of Jackie and Hyde in the T7S universe. And yes. Poor Hyde…he's finally going to get past the Kelso issues that we saw in Cat Fight Club and DO something about his feelings for Jackie…

**Wonderful Tonight**

Hyde stomped towards the Forman's kitchen, his mind reeling with the image of Jackie's boy toy, Chip (what a fucking stupid name, he thought derisively) knocked out on the ground. _Way to pretend you don't feel anything for her, dumbass_, he chided himself as he stepped through the sliding glass door and came face to face with Kitty.

"Oh, Steven, I saw what happened. Is your girlfriend okay?" Kitty hardly looked up from where she was working at the counter.

Hyde glared at her."My girlfriend?!"

"Yeah, th-th-the bossy little mean one you're always hanging around with...oh, uh, Jackie." Her voice held no trace of irony, and Hyde wondered if he had been that transparent with his feelings. And had he really been hanging around with her so much? Sure he had gone to the mall with her, and to Sizzler, the Hub a few times, and then the Zen thing, and the whole possession charge… None-the-less…

"She's not my girlfriend."

"Are you sure?" The playful smile on Kitty's face clearly showed that she didn't understand the seriousness of her charge. In the first place, Steven Hyde did not like stupid little cheerleaders…and in the second place, that stupid little cheerleader had it bad for Kelso, even if she was hounding all over him.

"Yes, I'm sure. I don't like her. She's shallow and rich and mean and bossy. She's everything that I hate." He could see the wry smile that Kitty hid as he spoke.

"But Steven, you hate everything."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, it means that...that maybe you like her cause..." The older woman's voice became singsongy and she almost giggled as she spoke. "I kinda think you do-oo."

"No! How could I like her? Because I don't like her! Because I _can't_ like her! Mrs. Forman, if I like her...shoot me."

"POW!!" Her index finger raised up like a gun within half a second of his plea, and all Hyde could do was turn on his heel and walk out of the kitchen.

Maybe, he thought to himself, Jackie really did like him. After all, bringing that stupid 'Chip' asshole was just an attempt to make him jealous, wasn't it? He walked towards her seat, staring at her as he thought. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to try something…something small…something simple…

"Jackie, get your car, we're going on a freaking date!" The words were out of his mouth before he had a chance to think them over any further, but he enjoyed the jealous faces of Fez and Kelso as Jackie jumped up and screamed something about a Veteran's Day miracle.

Maybe, he thought, it wouldn't be so bad to openly like Jackie. She had basically been ignoring Kelso for weeks, focused entirely on capturing Hyde's attention. Maybe Kelso wasn't really a factor here…maybe he just needed to chill the fuck out and spend some time with her. As they climbed into her Lincoln, Hyde wiped his sweaty palms on his jeans, wondering why he was so damn nervous about this.

* * *

Hyde and Jackie sat close together on her car looking out at the darkened woods. 

"This is the best date ever," Jackie informed him, smiling up at him in a way that made his stomach lurch.

"Jackie, we haven't talked in thirty minutes." He mentally slapped himself for contradicting her…he wanted this to be a good date, didn't he? For the past half hour he had been lost in his thoughts, worrying about all this Jackie crap, worrying that she wasn't having a good time, worrying that she was comparing him to Kelso. Maybe most of all, he worried that despite everything he had tried to say to Mrs. Forman, it was actually Jackie that was too good for him… But if she was having a good time…

"It's okay, Steven, you don't have to say anything. I understand you." Hyde smirked to himself at that.

"Oh, you do, do you?"

"Sure. Ok, so you're probably sitting there thinking, "I'm on this date with this girl who really, _really_ likes me... and, and she's so beautiful that…'"

_She really, REALLY, likes me? _Hyde thought to himself, staring down at her as she spoke. He stopped her before she could launch into a poem about her own beauty, though. "Jackie…"

Jackie silenced him with a finger over his lips. "Shhh... And you're wondering, 'How can I open up to her, when everyone I have ever loved has abandoned me? Am I even worthy of love?'" Hyde stared down at her, remembering the conversation they had had many months ago, when Jackie told him that her mom had disappeared as well. He wondered how much her perceptions of his feelings of unworthiness were based around her own feelings. "Well...you are, Steven. You are."

All his thoughts of worthiness and unworthiness and love and like were too much, and more than anything, he felt a need for a little levity. Raising his hands up under his glasses, he brushed away several imaginary tears, and tried to hold back the shudder that ran down his spine when Jackie's arm came around him, cuddling up to him in comfort. "It's okay Steven; it's okay. You know what, let it out. Let it all out."

"Ok…" His teary voice earned him another soft whisper from Jackie before he pulled away and blew a raspberry in her face, just wanting an end to all this stupid emotional talk. He wasn't going to tell her about his insecurities and he damn sure wasn't going to cry for her, but when she jumped off the trunk of the car in defeat, announcing that she wanted to go home, he felt his conscience kick in.

"Oh c'mon, I'm kidding! No, this is, this is alright. We can hang out here for a while, ok? God..." He smiled a little when Jackie came back around and sat down next to him, scooting in even closer when he offered her a sip of his drink. His smile widened as she settled herself underneath his arm, and the sweet smell of her conditioner made him deliciously light headed even as he pretended to hate it.

Several minutes passed in silence, though Hyde could feel his body reacting to every move Jackie made and every soft breath she released against his neck. Some part of him wanted to tell her that maybe she wasn't all wrong, and maybe he was a little sorry for chasing her off just for offering him kind words. Kind words that were probably based around what she wished someone would tell her.

"You, uh, look really nice tonight," he offered lamely, wondering how she managed to say stupid emotional things without sounding like a dumbass. When she smiled up at him gratefully, he felt his heart flutter, and couldn't help but smile back.

"Thanks. I'm kinda cold, though," she gestured down to the thin material of her jumper and he nodded in understanding before pulling away from her and shrugging out of his jacket. Her eyes sparkled as he held it out to her. "I didn't even have to ask you," she whispered to herself, smiling up at him widely before wrapping the oversized material around her and snuggling back into his side. "The stars are starting to come out," she noticed, pointing up to the bright pinpoints of light emerging in the darkened sky. Jumping up happily, Jackie pulled him to the front hood of the car, urging him to lie back with his legs hanging over the passenger side. "What do you see?" she asked as she curled next to him, warming his bare arms with her presence.

Instead of playing along with her game, though, Hyde rolled over her small body, propping himself on top of her with his muscular arms. Their eyes locked for a long moment, and the air seemed charged with electricity as he lowered his mouth to hers, only to be stopped by her small, chilled hand as it rubbed over his smooth cheek.

"Steven," she whispered, "we can't do that right now. You only get _one_ kiss on a first date…I'm not some kind of…of…slut." Her voice was quiet and nervous, and he wondered if she was thinking about Pam Macy or Kat Peterson, both sluts that he had fucked in and on this very car. He wondered if maybe she thought that that was all he wanted from her.

"But we've already kissed," he quietly informed her, sinking his head down so that his lips barely brushed hers.

"That was a long time ago…I was dating Michael then," she explained, her voice sounding breathy and scared in their close proximity. Hyde pulled back slightly, surprised that she wasn't recalling their kiss just the week before he had gone to jail for her… Staring into her eyes, he was suddenly very sure that she didn't actually remember it. Well, she _had_ been pretty damn high. Sometimes it was weird to remember that his stash could have such a strong effect on people who didn't use it much.

"Huh," he breathed out, the warm puff of air fogging over his sunglasses momentarily as he remained propped over her. Jackie giggled slightly at that, and reached up to pull the tinted plastic off of his face.

"You know you're wearing sunglasses at night?" Jackie asked, her voice dancing with laughter as her hands brushed over his skin, leaving a burning, tingling sensation all over his face. He saw her hands shake as she held the shades. _Funny,_ he thought to himself, _she's been so confident tonight…why is she so scared now?_

Hyde just shrugged his shoulders, waiting for her to give them back, but instead she raised her arms over her head, dangling his precious glasses over the side of the car.

"Hey, give those back," he growled, trying to keep any hint of amusement out of his voice. Based on the way Jackie smiled up at him, he guessed he had failed. "You _so_ asked for it…" Before Jackie had a chance to ask what he was referring to, Hyde moved one hand to tickle her stomach mercilessly, only moving faster and harder as she struggled beneath him.

"Steven," she screamed between gasps for air, "oh, God…" He stopped cold at the sound of her breathy pleas; her voice seemed to lodge in his groin, further hardening his erection.

"Is that what you'd sound like in bed?" he wondered aloud before he had a chance to consider his words. Jackie's face flushed red with embarrassment, but her lips fell open at the same time, and he was fairly certain that she wanted him as much as he wanted her. The look of desire in her eyes made his heart swell with hope as his lips descended on hers again. He had barely touched her lips, though, when her tiny hands brushed across his face to replace his glasses.

"This is supposed to be a date, Steven…I'm not…I'm not just gonna make out with you. You have to wait 'til the end of the date," she whispered up at him. He didn't pretend to understand what was up with her, but he still pulled away slightly and ventured a nod before lying back on the Lincoln's hood. He smiled to himself when Jackie positioned herself with her head on his shoulder, looking up at the stars with a small sigh.

He lay with her on the car for a solid hour, listening quietly as she told him about how she had loved to look up at the stars as a child when her parents' fights grew to be too much to deal with. Her voice was soft and lovely to listen to, and her words struck a chord somewhere in the back of his mind as he remembered walking outside when Edna and Bud began drinking and screaming. Hyde pulled her more tightly against him, letting his hands linger over her torso as he held her tightly, acutely aware of every breath, every movement of her body. The anticipation of their 'end of date' kiss was so strong that when she finally sat up, leaving the left side of his body sadly cold, he was almost glad.

"So...our first date's almost over." Jackie spoke the words matter-of-factly, and they might have sounded out of place if not for the fact that they both knew he had been waiting for this moment.

"Yep," was all Hyde said in response, hoping that the eagerness in his voice wasn't too obvious.

"What'd you think?" She smiled at him as they sat on the side of the hood.

Pretending to give it a long thought, Hyde responded with,"It was no worse than bowling." At Jackie's confused stare, he shrugged his shoulders and offered in explanation, "I don't hate bowling." _I fucking love bowling,_ Hyde amended to himself, thinking about the joy of guzzling beer while throwing black balls at white pins. The thought made him smile.

Jackie nodded, as though she was accepting but not perfectly pleased with his response. Never-the-less, she leaned towards him, prompting him to do the same. Their lips met softly, and just as during their previous kisses, Hyde felt his chest constrict and his head spin with the overwhelming taste and feel of her. He responded enthusiastically as Jackie opened her mouth to him, bringing a hand to the side of his face and leaving him tingling and wanting more. It took him a moment to process the fact that Jackie had pulled away.

"Huh.Ok, I didn't feel anything." He felt his heart fall past his toes and his stomach turn to mush inside him. For one moment he was certain that the Earth had stopped spinning. Was he not as good as Kelso? Had she felt nothing the last times they'd kissed?

"Nothing?" The word was hard to spit out, and he felt like a completely pathetic loser as he stared down at her, wanting more than anything to open up, to tell her how much he felt, but he wasn't able to say anything that might leave him more embarrassed than he already was. The hope that had blossomed over the course of their date completely withered as he stared at the ground.

"No, I mean the kiss was hot, but...well, did you feel something?" Hyde's head spun as he tried to figure out how to answer that question. What the hell was she talking about? He had always heard stereotypes about how confusing women were, but Jackie was the first one that he couldn't really fathom. The look in her eyes seemed to tell him that there was something he was supposed to say, but what?

"Uh..." He stared at her briefly before mustering up every ounce of resignation he could find. "No. Well...? No." Absentmindedly, he ran one hand over his lips, remembering the feeling of her. His heartbeat sped up anxiously as he contemplated the fact that he would never kiss her again.

Looking up at him, Jackie spoke. "So...I guess that's it, then. Turns out you were right about us all along." He stared into her eyes, wondering if she really was begging him to disagree or if it was just his own overactive imagination. It was just him, he figured…clearly Jackie was used to something more…something different. Clearly he didn't stack up to fucking Kelso. That was an impressive ego blow.

"Yep," was all he said, as he tried hard to bury the feelings of rejection. It wouldn't do any good to let Jackie know how much it hurt him…better to keep it to himself. Better to just agree and play along.

"So...what happens now?"

Hyde looked over her small body still wrapped up in his jacket and answered with the first thought that came to his head."I'm not opposed to doing it." It wasn't entirely a joke, of course, but he waggled eyebrow and instantly set a new mood, leaving her smiling and laughing with him as she began to step off of the car. Even if it felt wrong to just dismiss everything he had felt with a joke about causal sex, Jackie seemed somehow relieved, so he went with it.

"Take me home you pig!" Her words brought Hyde back to the night he had discovered Kelso and Laurie, the night he had driven her home to those very words. He smiled down at her as he jumped off the car as well, walking her to the passenger door.

"Yes, dear."

Twenty minutes later, Hyde pulled up in front of the Forman's house and prepared to step out of the car to let Jackie drive it home.

"Goodnight, Steven," she whispered sadly, reaching out one hand to grasp his shoulder before he left the car.

Turning towards her, Hyde was surprised as he noted her down turned mouth only inches away from his own. Moving slowly towards her, he brushed his lips over hers, closing his eyes against the tingling feeling. "Night, Jackie," he replied before stepping out of the car, hoping that the slamming of the door would banish Jackie from his brain. It didn't.

As he crossed the driveway, he let his hand brush over his lips once more, reliving the sensation of Jackie's kiss and wondering again what the hell was going on in her head. The next few weeks were going to be hell, he decided. A hell in which Jackie started chasing after Kelso again. A hell in which Fez had a better shot with Jackie than he did. A hell in which Jackie and Kelso would get back together for sure. The thought of them together left him feeling empty and depressed, and he stomped down the basement steps, determined to drink away all thoughts of the petite brunette

A/N: I know Jackie was confusing, but you'll get a taste of what was really going on in her head later. Please review… Pretty please with a sad, pouty, sexy Hyde on top? (Poor baby has to watch Jackie and Kelso get back together.) The next chapter will jump ahead quite a bit…


	7. While My Guitar Gently Weeps

A/N: Thanks for your reviews everybody! I'm glad people like the story so far. This story is largely about Hyde's insecurities about Kelso, and like I said, I'm keeping to the storyline. I _really_ mean that. And remember, if you wanted to see the Veteran's Day date get fixed, I already have a very very very long story devoted to that. :p

Epilogue will be up tomorrow.

**While My Guitar Gently Weeps**

_Evelyn Peabody! Come on down! You're the next contestant on 'The Price is Right!'_

"Another old lady. She can't even reach the wheel!" Hyde couldn't agree more with Jackie's exasperation at the television. It was driving him insane. Or maybe that was just being next to her, alone and unsupervised in the basement. God, after their crappy little "I didn't feel anything" date so long ago, he had done his best to just forget about her, although there had still been moments…little moments of shared joy over a good burn, or sitting too close together while with the rest of the gang, or that kiss on his birthday. And now…Kelso and Donna had been gone for less than two weeks, and he was already having a hard time remembering why he needed to keep his hands off of her. In a lot of ways, it reminded him of the last time she had been apart from Kelso. Except, this time she wasn't making a lame attempt to be his 'friend.' This time she was just…hanging out. Reading her magazines, watching TV, occasionally engaging him in a spirited debate while they watched 'Donahue.' She was around, and aloof, and smokin' hot, and it was awakening a lot of feelings he had tried really hard to squelch. Although, if he was honest, he had never been precisely successful in ignoring how she affected him…he had just managed to keep anyone else from noticing.

"I can't watch 'The Price is Right' again. I just can't." Watching boring game shows gave him too much time to feel every breath, every minute shift of Jackie's body next to him.

"This summer totally sucks. There's nothing to do."

As if on cue, Jackie looked up and met his eyes, and a clear message flashed between them…there was _something_ to do. His gaze drifted from her eyes to her lips to her chest, and before he knew what was happening, they were kissing. And then just as quickly, they weren't.

But God, they couldn't do this. _He_ couldn't do this…make out with Jackie and then give it up when Kelso came waltzing back. But even as his eyes turned back to the television, he could see her labored breathing and the way her nipples hardened under the lavender fabric of her shirt.

_I bid one dollar, Bob. _

God, he was going to kill himself if he had to watch this, though. Jackie turned to look at him, and he could read in her eyes that she wanted it as badly as he did. So maybe, maybe… Maybe he could do this. Make out with her for a while, keep her at a distance, then step aside gracefully when Kelso showed up. That would be…

Before he had a chance to finish his thought, he and Jackie had sprung towards each other on the couch, and their lips connected passionately as the show droned on in the background. His hands worked their way up her torso, and the breathy moan that escaped her lips at the feel of his hands on her breasts was almost enough to make him forget about Kelso. Almost.

* * *

_Two months later_

Hyde held himself over Jackie as they did what they had spent the whole summer doing: making out. Things hadn't progressed beyond second base, they never made it to Hyde's bedroom, and when they were outside of the basement they didn't talk about it. It wasn't a relationship, Hyde reassured himself daily, even if he took her to the Hub once in a while, because there were no long talks or expectations. It was just about making out, plain and simple. Their affair had been hot and secret, with Mrs. Forman as their only witness, but Hyde was just waiting for the day that Jackie went running back into Kelso's open arms. He knew with complete certainty that all Kelso had to do was give Jackie an opening and they would be back together…he was living on borrowed time, and he knew it.

"A Catholic school? That's rough." It was Kelso's voice, and Hyde jumped away from Jackie, slid his sunglasses over his eyes, and snapped on the television before Kelso, Eric, and Donna came into view. "Yeah, my dad took away my slingshot, so I'm feelin' it pretty bad, too." Kelso settled on the couch next to Jackie, coming between her and Hyde, as Eric and Donna headed for the deep freeze.

"What were you guys doing?" Eric asked somewhat suspiciously as he noticed the guilty faces and strange television program

"Oh, we were just watchin', uh…this old lady's eatin' a fish." Eric might have called Hyde on his lame response, but the drama of Kelso and Jackie quickly took over the room. Hyde watched, his features schooled into a guarded expression, as Kelso gave Jackie the dreaded opening.

"Look…Jackie…we've been avoidin' each other. I think it's time we hash this thing out."

"'S okay. I'm good." Jackie's reply was flip and dismissive, and Hyde found himself wondering if maybe Jackie wouldn't take him back. It was a strange thought, really. As much as he had feared the Jackie/Kelso reunion, he had come to look at it as so inevitable that he had never stopped to think about what he was supposed to do with Jackie if it didn't happen.

"I can see you're devastated over losin' me." Kelso's voice was an infuriating mixture of self-satisfied and sincere, and Hyde found himself irritated that the idiot was so sure of himself.

Jackie glanced at Hyde briefly before she answered. "You know what, Michael, I'm fine. Really."

"You sound brave. But inside you're a scrambled mess. Just remember this-I'll always be there for you in case you have any physical needs, all right?" Kelso put his arm around Jackie, and a combination of her obvious distaste and his own possessive urges made Hyde's need to punch something almost impossible to resist. His fist collided with Kelso's arm in a satisfying smack, causing the taller boy to tear his arm away from Jackie. "Damn, Hyde! What was that for?"

Hyde grinned easily at his friend as he replied, "I just missed you, man." Kelso smiled goofily as the conversation in the room turned to Donna's school, and Hyde was left to his own thoughts. So Jackie wouldn't be running back to Kelso…not right now, at least.

* * *

_Four months later_

Hyde and Jackie drove silently in the El Camino as they followed the Formans in the Toyota. Jackie had just taken a bullet for him, and he was left feeling like the biggest asshole on the planet.

"I'm really sorry, you know?" His voice was soft and almost shaking with the force of emotion behind it.

"Steven, I know you wouldn't have snuck up to the cabin if you knew what was going on…"

"No, I mean, I'm sorry about your dad. I know you and your mom…"

"My mom's in Mexico," Jackie blurted out her secret, her eyes filling with saline as she stared at the floor. "She didn't come back after Daddy was arrested, and…" She trailed off as Hyde slowed the car and pulled onto the side of the road.

"God…Jackie…" Hyde stared at his weeping girlfriend in the small car, thinking about her all alone in her house. It had been over three weeks now…three weeks of pretending nothing was wrong, three weeks of hiding this awful truth, and he had barely noticed. Laying his head on the steering wheel, Hyde remembered the pain of being left alone in his house. It hadn't taken a whole day before the Forman's knew, and it hadn't been a week before he was living comfortably with his friend's family.

For the first time, it dawned on Hyde that maybe he wasn't the only one concerned with keeping emotional distance in their little relationship. He had assumed, apparently wrongly, that Jackie would come to him with her problems, he would pretend to listen, and then they would kiss and everything would be fine. But here they were. Apparently, being a cold emotionless dick wasn't the way to get a girl to open up, and after her little stunt with the weed at the cabin, he couldn't hide the fact that he cared about her…a lot.

Pulling her across the bench seat, Hyde folded his arms around her and directed her sobs into his shoulder. "I'm so sorry, baby," he whispered softly as he stroked her back and lay tiny kisses at her ear, her cheek, her neck, and any other spot he could reach. Consciously mustering up his most comforting voice, he continued to whisper. "Stay in the basement until we sort this out, okay?" Jackie's wide eyed fear at his offer reminded him of the one thing they hadn't quite done yet.

"St-Steven, I don't think we should…"

"Shh, baby…it'll be alright, okay? I just…I just don't want you to be alone, okay? I know…" Hyde didn't finish his sentence, and instead wrapped his arms more tightly around his girlfriend.

Still nestled snugly against his shoulder, Jackie smiled up at him, her face showing the extent of her gratitude and affection towards him. Although Hyde didn't think about it at the time, as they cuddled on the bench seat of the El Camino, it marked the first time he let go of his fears of Kelso and inadequacy, and just relaxed into the moment with the girl he cared about.

* * *

_Two Weeks Later_

"GET OFF MY BOYFRIEND!"

The words echoed in his head even after he and Jackie had officially broken up, and they left Hyde feeling almost hollow. For two weeks, now, he had held Jackie in his arms every night. For two weeks, now, he had convinced himself that it was okay to care about her, okay to stop guarding himself against the inevitable day when Jackie went back to Kelso. For two weeks, now, he had convinced himself that the Jackie and Kelso reunion wasn't inevitable. And then the moron showed up with Annette.

He hated the looks of sympathy that seemed to come from everywhere. Apparently everyone knew that this day was coming sooner or later, but he didn't need to hear that crap. He cringed as the door opened, sure that another person was about to rub his face in the stupid mess he had created for himself, but it was Jackie that stepped in.

"Steven, I need to tell you something." Her voice was final, not offering any room for disagreement.

"Well, if it's 'get off my boyfriend,' don't worry, cuz I already heard it." Sarcasm was his only defense against the pain he was feeling, so he went with it.

"No. I have to tell you that you were right. When I said that, it did mean something, and I thought it didn't because sometimes I want things because other people have them. Like once, I made my dad buy me a pet rat because my cousin had one. But then, the rat got so disgusting I made my kitty cat hunt it." Hyde shook his head at Jackie's ramblings.

"I don't know what the hell you're talking about. Who's the rat? Am I the rat?"

"No, no. Steven... look, okay, I spoke to Annette. She made me realize -- okay, maybe I do have some leftover feelings for Michael, and then she said that if I really wanted him, I'd have to fight for him. But Steven, I know in my heart that the only person I want to fight for is you."

Hyde rose from the couch, letting his anger out. "Really?! Oh, boy! You like Kelso, but you like me a little bit more? What a bunch of crap! You know I think, Jackie? I think the only reason you were with me in the first place was to get back at Kelso."

"Steven, how can you say that?! Okay, fine, you know what? Maybe I do have feelings for Michael, but what am I supposed to do? He was my first boyfriend! And you know what? You're going to have to learn to deal with it! And if you can't and you're going to have to break up with me because of that, I can't stop you! I think it's a real waste, because I love you!"

Her words hung in the air for long, silent minutes, and for the first time since the incident at the wake, he no longer heard 'get off my boyfriend.' _She loves me._ The thought replayed itself again and again, and every time he tried to deny it, the look in her eyes brought it back. _She loves me_. He kept his face hard as stone, fighting back the sudden need he had to pull her into his arms and tell her had never loved another person as much as he loved her. Instead he hardened his eyes and stubbornly insisted, "I'm not saying it back." He expected her to cry, or beg him to love her, or maybe just leave. Her defiant 'I don't care' shocked him, and he stared hard at her for another moment before his face fell. _She loves me_. "Dammit!"

Hyde paced towards the washing machine, knowing that he was about to forgive her, but finding it impossible to squelch the feeling that this was a bad decision. His life would be simpler without Jackie, wouldn't it? Sure, he liked having her around, but it left so much to worry about… _She loves me_. Slowly, he paced back towards her, reading her love and anxiety easily.

"So are we going to go to the dance or what?" The relief on Jackie's face was instantaneous, and he wondered if his own face showed his emotions so clearly.

"Oh, Steven," she sighed happily as she kissed him soundly on the lips and burrowed into his arms. He felt himself smile a little as Jackie sighed softly into his neck. _She loves me_.

* * *

_Four months later_

Hyde stormed angrily into the Holiday Hotel, the image of Kelso and Jackie cuddled up on the couch burned into his brain. God, he had tried so hard…no one could accuse him of not trying. He had tried to help Jackie through her family's hard time. He had forgiven her for the 'get off my boyfriend' crap. He had overlooked it when she took Kelso to Mrs. Forman's dinner party. All he asked…all he had wanted, was for her to stay away from _fucking_ Kelso. It was just too hard to think about them being alone together…too hard to ignore the little voice in the back of his head that told him she would always love Kelso, no matter what.

He remembered the scene vividly: Kelso curled into Jackie, Jackie stroking his hair sensually. He was sure they had slept together…positive, in fact, and it killed him. It was the crushing pain of Veteran's Day multiplied by a thousand, and, as always, his pain became anger. Anger at Kelso for holding onto Jackie's heart. Anger at Jackie for stringing him along while cheating with Kelso. Anger at himself for opening up and putting himself in a position to be hurt.

So, when the nurse propositioned him, he followed. Not because she was exceptionally pretty, not because he really wanted sex, but to relieve his hurt and anger. As they ascended in the elevator, a little voice in his head screamed at him that this was a terrible idea, but he ignored it. After all, it was that little voice that had told him to open up to Jackie in the first place.

He had tried and failed, and he wasn't about to try again.

* * *

A/N: What a great ending, huh? I'm not so fond of this chapter…it just seemed necessary to set up some of Hyde's thoughts during key moments in the wake of the 'Kelso insecurities' that blossomed in my earlier chapters. It will all be finished tomorrow!!! 

Please leave a review...I'm not used to posting things that end on such sour notes, so I'm extra nervous.


	8. Bell Bottom Blues

A/N: Thanks to everyone who's reviewed. Two posts in two days! Yay!

OK, I want to make sure we're all on the same page because, you know, I think we aren't. Remember the title…

Eric Clapton fell totally, completely, crazily, self-destructively in love with Pattie Boyd while she was married to George Harrison, and wrote 'Layla' (named after a Persian story about a man who falls desperately, crazily in unrequited love with a woman named Layla) with her in mind. (I bet you knew that part just from knowing the song, and if you don't know it, for the love of GOD listen to the song. Totally one of my all time favorites. Especially that piano solo by Jim Gordon, who later killed his mother with a hammer.) Well, several years later, Pattie kicked a cheating George to the curb and took up with Clapton with no hard feelings any way about it (at least openly). She was his muse, he wrote songs dedicated to her, and he stayed friends with George Harrison. After being married for a relatively short time (a shorter time than he had sadly, crazily, self-destructively pined for her) Clapton cheated. Repeatedly. Knocked up two different women. No shit. All those years of love came to nothing but the memories… They split up, Pattie swore she would never marry again, and life went on.

Ok…so what I said about seeing a similarity between Boyd/Clapton and J/H... Please don't hate me. If a happy ending is super important to you, I understand that you might not want to read this. But still…leave me a review and let me know if you don't hate me. And thank you to luvcali for putting up (and helping) with my crap about sad stories and last lines. :)

**Bell Bottom Blues**

_Forman Basement_

_January 1, 1980, 1:23am_

The rest of the gang cleared the basement, leaving Hyde and Jackie alone and contemplating the new decade. He sat in his chair, openly staring at her as she lounged on the couch, deep in thought. Her gently curled hair, her fuller figure, her peaceful expression all justified what he had thought so many years ago…she only got more gorgeous as she got older. A stab of self-loathing shot through him at that thought...if he had just been a little more reasonable and a little less stupid, he would still have her. Too caught up in gazing at the way her body had changed in the past months, he failed to notice that she had opened her eyes and was now staring back.

"What?" she asked, rather irritated to find her ex-boyfriend leering at her.

"Nothing," he responded, picking a magazine up and burying his face in it, even as he continued to glance at her. God, to think _Fez_ was the one who got to touch her, now. _This must be how Kelso felt when he came back from California_, Hyde thought to himself.

"HYDE," she screeched, clearly already uncomfortable from being alone in the room with him, "what the hell is wrong that you keep looking at me like that!"

"I never knew you were so fuckin' shy about being looked at," he mumbled to himself.

"Oh, I have no problem with being _admired_, Steven Hyde, but I would rather not be ogled by a stupid pig with a butt ugly mustache who threw me overboard for a _stripper_!"

Stroking his mustache self-consciously, he thought about Sam. "Come on, Jackie, what was I supposed to do when she showed up? Just…abandon her?" Jackie screeched as she turned to face him.

"That's the problem, Steven!" Her voice was filled with pain and anger, and she blinked her eyes several times, obviously willing herself not to cry as she stared into the eyes of the man she had loved. "I would have done anything for you…I sacrificed my chance to be a star for you! I _loved_ you, Steven! And you…you… When you had to choose between me and a blonde whore you hardly knew…you chose _her. _And it wasn't just you…it was…" Jackie's anger turned into sadness as she sat back on the couch, unable to stop a few tears that leaked down her cheeks. "What I'll never understand, you know, is how you…Steven Hyde…the guy who barely even believes in marriage, saw a fake Vegas marriage as being so damn important! After so long together…why did I mean so little to you?" Shaking her head sadly, Jackie wiped away her tears.

"You did mean something to me! You meant…" Hyde felt his own eyes sting with tears he wouldn't shed as he remembered the situation he had been in when Sam arrived. "So, what, you're telling me that you would have forgiven me for marrying Sam," he noticed Jackie's violent shudder on that name, "if I had just divorced her right away?" She looked at him like he imagined she would look at a child who had just asked the stupidest thing ever.

"Yes, Steven," she sighed, "I would have forgiven you for her just like I forgave you for the nurse, if you had only done something to show me that you loved me and you wanted me. That's all I ever wanted from you, you know? It wasn't grand gestures and marriage proposals; it was the little things where you failed me." She lowered her eyes to her lap as her tears stopped. "I could have forgiven you…"

"But you can't forgive me anymore?" he asked quietly, betraying too much of himself as he met her eyes. Jackie stared at him in shock.

"Are you telling me you _want_ to be forgiven?"

"Yes," he mumbled, "I never wanted to hurt you." Instead of pacifying her, though, it only seemed to reignite her anger.

"Oh, you never _wanted_ to hurt me…you just…didn't mind it so much when it happened, is that it?" He shook his head in the negative but didn't have time to answer before she charged on. "You are so full of shit, Steven Hyde! You never loved me at all! You never looked at me as anything but a pest or a tumor!"

"I _did_ love you!" Hyde shouted at the top of his lungs, barely surprised by the sudden passionate rage it stirred.

"No, Steven," she sighed in defeat. "If you had loved me, we wouldn't be where we are now. You wouldn't have been so stupid and insecure about everything. You wouldn't have cheated on me…you wouldn't have married that whore…you wouldn't have ignored me since you got back from Vegas."

"But I was insecure _because_ I loved you! You were always running back to Kelso, and I was so scared that I was gonna lose you…"

"When was I always running back to Michael? WHEN? I was done with him by the time we were together, Steven. And if you had loved me, you would have…"

"I fucking loved you before you noticed me as anything but the loser in the basement! I had to fucking watch you run back to him again and again…"

Jackie's eyes widened in shock. "Wh-what?"

"Since Junior _fucking_ Prom, Jackie, when you were still with Kelso, I…" Her mouth fell open dumbly as he stood from his chair and sat next to her on the couch, laying a gentle hand on her arm. They hadn't touched in so long that the contact made them both a little dizzy.

"Why didn't you act on it?" she asked after several long minutes of looking into his eyes, seeing the truth of his words, remembering the few small moments they had shared together, the touches and even kisses that she had eventually dismissed because…well, it was Hyde.

"I tried." He shrugged his shoulders. "You always wanted _him_…that never changed." A defeated look crossed his face and Jackie shook her head sadly.

"No…that's not true. Don't you remember when I liked you…" She trailed off, remembering the massive crush she had harbored. "I tried, too, you know. On multiple occasions. _You_ always pushed _me_ away."

"Yeah, like on our _first date_," he grumbled, remembering the sharp sting of rejection as she told him she felt nothing.

"What, exactly, was I supposed to do?" They stared hard at each other. "Just say, 'Gee, Steven, I really like you and all, but I don't want to become the next slut you nail on my car…'?"

"You really think that's all I wanted from you?" Hyde was shocked at the idea, and the stab of guilt he felt at Jackie's clear sincerity angered him.

"Well, what was I supposed to think? You ignore me forever, you write a freakin' Haiku about what a pest I am, you avoid me after every time anything happened between us…and then suddenly you want to take me out to Inspiration Point?"

"Maybe you were supposed to think that I wanted to try…"

"Try what, Steven?" She looked at him pointedly, reading the same blank shock she expected. His 'I don't know' face. "You wanted a relationship? You wanted a girlfriend?" Hyde was startled by those questions. After so long of telling himself that he and Jackie had missed out after that date… Had he wanted Jackie for a girlfriend? Hell, he was barely ready for that when she really had become his girlfriend…there was no way it would have worked back then. "You just wanted someone to have sex with! You didn't want me at all!"

"That's not true," Hyde firmly denied that charge. "I did want you." The honest truth of that statement was obvious, but Jackie just shook her head.

"So what, then? You wanted me to just put out and be, what, your little _fuck buddy_?" She spat the words at him, and Hyde blanched at the accusation in her eyes. "And you think that might have…what? Turned into a real relationship? Turned into a better relationship that the shitty one we got where you ran around screwing nurses and strippers? That sounds like some stupid, horny fantasy." She paused to glare at him. "No, Steven. If I'm glad for any part of our relationship, it's that we didn't do anything back then. Whatever might have happened, I bet it would have been even worse than what we got." He quietly absorbed the harsh descriptions of their relationship, knowing in his heart that it was anger and hurt that had erased all the good from her mind. But then, he _had_ always been a little guarded, a little aloof, a little removed.

"So did you really feel nothing?" Hyde asked, brushing back more serious questions in favor of the one that had always plagued the back of his mind.

Jackie laughed derisively. "That's really bothered you, hasn't it?" She shook her head at him before continuing. "I don't know what I felt, Steven," Jackie confessed. "I was scared…too scared to…" Jackie shrugged her shoulders, letting him fill in the blanks. "Besides, you said the same thing."

"I was scared, too," he admitted. "You and Kelso…"

"'_Me and Kelso'_ WHAT, Steven?"

"You were always…"

"Why did you always have to make such a big deal about Michael?!"

"Well, did it ever occur to you that I didn't want to stand in the way of _true love?_" he asked, rolling his eyes to cover up the hurt. The sharp slap on his cheek shocked him.

"Michael and I were never anything close to true love, and you know it! You _know_ it! You just kept feeding yourself that stupid crap as an excuse to push me away back in my sophomore year and you used it to ruin our relationship!" Hyde paled at the truth of her accusation, at the way he had always made Kelso into something he wasn't. "What you and I had, Steven…" She trailed off, squeezing her eyes closed against her tears.

Staring at Jackie as she sat on the couch brought to mind the summer they had bonded over television and secret makeouts. "Why were you so willing to do things without a _relationship_ when we finally got together, then?"

"Because we _did_ have a relationship, Steven, even if you didn't want to admit it. You didn't see anyone else…you were always happy to see me…you even took me on dates." Hyde smiled at the memory of their trips to the Hub.

"That's basically what we had back on Veteran's Day," Hyde offered, "except you were…you know… with Kelso…"

"FINE, Steven!" Her eyes flared with anger as she responded. "I wasn't over Michael back in my Sophomore year. Fine. I was still half in love with the dufus before you and I started dating, therefore it's my fault you slept with a nurse and married a whore. Is that it?"

"No, Jackie. It was all me. I know that, okay? I know you tried. I was scared, and that wasn't your fault. You were the first person that made me feel…" Hyde didn't finish his sentence, instead letting his gaze fall over Jackie's small body, so close to his on the sofa. He was flooded with memories of how much he had felt for her, how scared he had been of losing her, how good he had felt when he was with her… As if by a magnetic pull, his mouth lowered to hers.

"Jackie," he groaned lightly as his lips brushed over hers. The fireworks he remembered from each time he had kissed her were still there, exploding behind his eyes, so he deepened the kiss, pushing her backwards on the couch and sliding his body on top of hers. His hands worked over her, relearning the delicate curves that he hadn't been able to touch in so long. "Jackie, I've missed you so much," he whispered into her mouth, not letting their lips part. Their tongues tangled together passionately before Jackie pulled away enough to speak.

"Steven, I…" Instead of saying the words he longed to hear, though, she jumped up from the couch, pushing him away from her in horror. "NO!" She wiped her mouth and tried to steady her shaking hands as she stared at him. "I _can't_ love you anymore, Steven. Maybe if you had kicked out the stripper, maybe if you had trusted me a little, maybe if you had gotten it through your stupid head that I didn't love Michael anymore, maybe if you hadn't slept with that nurse…" She shook her head sadly at all the memories. "I tried to forgive you for a lot, Steven. I tried to love you despite the fact that you almost never did anything to show me that you loved me. I tried to always stand by you…"

"I'm so sorry, baby," he whispered, still seated on the couch. Being presented with the list of unforgivable things that she had forgiven him for cut him to the bone. How had he managed to overlook how good she was? He had always been too concerned with protecting his heart to notice that he was just setting himself, and her, up for heartbreak. Every horrible thing he had done to her…they all came back to his own insecurities; the same insecurities, in fact, that Jackie had tried to reassure him about on Veteran's Day.

"It's too late," Jackie shook her head sadly. "You really…you really hurt me." Hyde nodded, finally accepting what she was saying. "You killed a part of me, Steven. And I just can't…" Shaking her head sadly, she seemed to remember something. "And I'm with Fez, now."

"Oh, come _on_ Jackie, anyone can just by looking at you two that you don't love Fez." Jackie nodded her head, not rejecting the accusation.

"Did it ever occur to you that maybe I don't _want_ love anymore? I had love with Michael and I had love with you…and together, you two made up most of the bad things in my life. I don't want that again, St-" She paused. "I don't want that again, Hyde."

"So, what, you're just giving up?" he asked, confused by the un-Jackie sentiment. Jackie was the one person he had known in his life that never seemed to give up on anything. She shrugged her shoulders with resignation, but not sadness. Tremendous guilt wracked his body...he had never imagined that Kelso had been so correct in his assessment that they had ruined her.

"You gave up when you stayed married to that whore. Michael gave up when he moved away. Eric and Donna gave up. Why am I the only one that's not allowed to give up, Hyde? Why do I have to keep trying to put things back together when my friends are perfectly happy to watch everything go to hell?" She shook her head sadly, but her eyes reflected a hardness he had never imagined in the girl he had loved. "I just want to feel safe. I just want to know that I'm not leaving my heart in the hands of a person who doesn't care what happens to it. And clearly…I'm the only one that cares." She shrugged her shoulders, simply stating the obvious and not looking to hurt her former lover.

"Jackie, I'm so sorry." He lowered his head in defeat. The utter irony, he thought, was that he was supposed to be the asshole with trust issues, but he was the one wearing his heart on his sleeve and getting rejected by the most trusting person he had ever met. That person…the Jackie that trusted him with her heart…she was gone.

"I forgive you, Steven. I forgave you a long time ago. But…it doesn't mean we can be together." Hyde nodded sadly, really accepting for the first time that things were over with Jackie, and that he had been the one that ended it. The woman standing in front of him wasn't the girl he remembered…wasn't the girl he had loved.

Slowly, he rose from the couch and pulled her small frame into his arms. For one moment, he was several years younger, holding onto Kelso's girl, their whole future ahead of them. In the next, he was older, letting go of Fez's woman, and accepting that their 'future' was now in the past. One last, lingering squeeze, and he released her into a world that didn't include him and to a man he could never be. '_The more things change,' _he thought to himself as he grabbed his coat and headed out into the new decade.

* * *

**The End**

A/N: Please review. Please. PLEASE. I'm gonna be pulling my hair out over this, so please let me know what you think. I hope maybe it gave you the same kind of closure it gave me.

PS. If you haven't already, check out my Christmas Fic. It's got a happier ending. :)


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